Chuck Jones’ discipline

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Warner Bros. animation director Chuck Jones codified Nine Unbreakable Rules for the encounters between Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner.

Rule 1: The Road Runner cannot harm the coyote except by going “beep-beep.”

Rule 2: No outside force can harm the coyote—only his own ineptitude or the failure of the Acme products.

Rule 3: The Coyote could stop anytime—if he were not a fanatic. (Repeat: “a fanatic is one who redoubles his effort when he has forgotten his aim.” – George Santayana)

Rule 4: No dialogue ever, except “beep-beep.”

Rule 5: The Road Runner must stay on the road—otherwise logically, he would not be called a road runner.

Rule 6: All action must be confined to the natural environment of the two characters—the Southwest American desert.

Rule 7: All materials, tools, weapons, or mechanical conveniences must be obtained from the Acme corporation.

Rule 8: Whenever possible, make gravity the coyote’s greatest enemy.

Rule 9: The coyote is always more humiliated than harmed by his failures.

Chuck Jones grew up in Los Angeles watching live action film shoots of the early silent-era comedians.
He was always a believer in how strict limitations, or “disciplines” as he called them, foster creativity. “Everyone I’ve ever respected always used restricted tools,” he said. “The greatest comedians were the ones who wore the simplest costumes and worked in prescribed areas—like Chaplin.”
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Chuck Jones’s book Chuck Amuck: The Life and Times of an Animated Cartoonist is as much about creativity as it is about animation.
An excellent book on the art of Warner Bros. animation: That’s All Folks: The Art of Warner Bros. Animation

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